Female Puberty

As you may have already noticed you and your friend's bodies are beginning to change. This is called puberty. It's the process where a child's body grows and matures into an adult, and for this to happen your sexual organs (private parts) must develop so that when you're older you can have children. Puberty begins when your body starts to produce hormones. They're like and instruction your brain sends to your body.

Let's start with the female body. Between the ages of 8-14 a girl's body will begin puberty. Here are a couple things you will experience as you go through puberty.

Breast Development:This is one of the first signs of puberty and often starts as a slightly raised or "puffy" nipple. Some girls will feel like their nipples are itchy but don't worry this is only because the skin is stretching. This is a diagram which gives you an idea of how breast development begins but don't worry if you're not that developed. It's different for every girl!

Breasts grow so that if you become pregnant you will then be able to breast feed the baby once it's born. It can take up to 6 years for breasts to fully develop and even then they don't finish developing until pregnancy. So don't worry about your breast size, if they're small give them a chance to grow but it's perfectly normal for breasts to remain small through a woman's adult life. Although it may seem like a big deal the have big boobs now, once you're older you'll wonder what all the fuss was about!

Tip: If you want a hint of what size your beasts will grow to look at your mum and sisters, because you're closely related chances are yours will be around the same size.

Pubic Hair:Pubic hair is hair that grows "down there," it's also one of the first signs of puberty. It will start off growing fine and straight and as you get older it will get coarse and thicker. Here's another diagram to give you an idea of what pubic hair looks like, but remember don't compare yourself to it as everyone is different.

Hips Widening:Notice also in the diagram above that your hips will widen as you get older. This happens because if you become pregnant you must be able to carry a baby inside you.

Menstruation:Inside our bodies we girls have a thing called a Vagina. It's a tube that follows up from a hole close to where you pee. Up from the vagina is the cervix. Here is a diagram so you understand what I'm talking about.

Now if one day you decide to have a child the Uterus is where the baby will grow, but so the uterus can be ready to grow a baby once a month it needs to go through a process called the menstrual cycle. The first thing that happens in the menstrual cycle is inside the ovaries (see diagram) a very tiny egg grows. When this egg has matured it is released out of the ovaries and travels down the fallopian tubes. (You release one egg a month and it alternates between sides). While the egg is travelling down the fallopian tube the lining in the uterus grows so that when the egg gets there if it happens to meet a sperm the lining will protect the baby as it grows. But because we aren't all sexually active, when a sperm does not meet an egg the egg dies. Since the lining of the uterus is no longer needed it is flushed out in what's called a period. This is why you will bleed for 3-7 days once a month from your vagina, it is perfectly normal and a healthy sign. Girls can start their period as early as 8 and as late as 16 but the average age is 12.5 years old.

Tip: Just like your breast size, the age you start your period will also be similar to your mum and sisters because you're related. Ask them what age they got theirs so you have an idea of when it will come.

Fact: During menstruation the sensitivity of a woman's middle finger is reduced.

Growth Spurt:You will also notice you're starting growing taller and eating more. This is because your body needs more protein to grow. This sudden growth is called a growth spurt. Some girls have their growth spurt before their first period and others have it after. It's important to remember that you may feel like the young one now but within the next couple of years it will happen to you too ready or not!

Once a woman reaches the age of around 50 she goes through a thing called menopause. This is when she stops having periods and can no longer become pregnant. If a woman were to have a baby at this age there is less chance of it being healthy as the woman is no longer young and healthy herself. Menopause is about as annoying as puberty, common symptoms a hot flashes and mood swings.